Information Processing Apparatus

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-133901, filed on Aug. 9, 2024, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

The present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus.

A technology is known in which information is a plurality classified into of predetermined display patterns according to the values of at least two of three parameters, namely, the relationship with driving, the importance to the user, and the immediacy of the display, and information is displayed in the classified display mode (for example, Patent Literature 1).

Patent Literature 1: International Publication No. 2015/159340

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a technique that is effective in improving user convenience when providing information to a vehicle user.

obtaining a HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) response by accessing a web page on which a notification information that is an information to be notified to a user of a vehicle is posted; identifying a latest update date and time of the notification information according to a Last-Modified included in a header of the HTTP response; determining whether the identified update date and time is on or after a predetermined date and time; in a case where it is determined that the update date and time is on or after the predetermined date and time, generating a first voice data including a voice data obtained by converting the notification information posted on the web page using an existing voice synthesis process and predetermined voice data, and transmitting a first command signal to output the first voice date to a terminal mounted on the vehicle; and in a case where it is determined that the update date and time is earlier than the predetermined date and time, generating a second voice data including only the voice data obtained by converting the notification information posted on the web page using the existing voice synthesis process, and transmitting a second command signal to output the second voice data to the terminal. One aspect of the present disclosure may be an information processing apparatus comprising a controller configured to execute processing of:

accessing a web page on which a notification information that is an information to be notified to a user of a vehicle is posted; obtaining a latest update date and time of the notification information posted on the web page; determining whether the obtained update date and time is on or after a predetermined date and time; in a case where it is determined that the update date and time is on or after the predetermined date and time, transmitting a first command to output a first voice data that is a voice data according to the notification information posted on the web page to a terminal mounted on the vehicle; and in a case where it is determined that the update date and time is earlier than the predetermined date and time, transmitting a second command to output a second voice data that is a voice data according to the notification information posted on the web page and that is having a shorter sentence than the first voice data to the terminal. Another aspect of the present disclosure may be an information processing apparatus comprising a controller configured to execute processing of:

Further, other aspect of the present disclosure may be an information processing method, program for causing a computer to execute the above-described information processing method, or a computer-readable storage medium non-temporarily storing the program.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a technique that is effective in improving user convenience when providing information to a vehicle user.

One possible service is to inform users of vehicles of information such as road construction information or charging facility information. However, if information with newer update dates and information with older update dates are notified to users in the same manner, users may not be able to distinguish between the two pieces of information, which may result in reduced convenience for the user. Therefore, there is a need for a way to improve the convenience of the above-mentioned services for users.

In response to this, an information processing apparatus according to the present disclosure notifies a user of a vehicle of information with newer update dates and information with older update dates in different manners. In one example, the information processing apparatus according to the present disclosure may be a server connected to a terminal mounted in a vehicle via a communication network. The terminal mounted on the vehicle is a terminal in which an application program for car navigation is installed. Such a terminal may be a terminal provided in the vehicle or may be a terminal carried by the user of the vehicle.

In the information processing apparatus according to the present disclosure, the controller accesses a web page on which a notification information that is an information to be notified to the user is posted, and obtain a latest update date and time of the notification information posted on the web page. The notification information may be, for example, a road construction information, or a vacancy information regarding a vacancy status of a charging facilities for a vehicle battery. As an example, the latest update date and time of the notification information can obtain by obtaining Last-Modified, which is included in the header of the HTTP response transmitted from a web server to the information processing apparatus in response to an HTTP request transmitted from information processing the apparatus to the web server (the web server that provides the web page).

The controller of the information processing apparatus according to the present disclosure determines, in response to obtaining the latest update date and time of the notification information, whether the update date and time is on or after a predetermined date and time. The predetermined date and time may be changed as appropriate depending on the type of the notification information. As an example, when the notification information is an information whose situation is unlikely to change in a short period of time, such as a road construction information, the specified date and time may be a date and time several hours or one day before the present time. As another example, when the notification information is an information whose situation is likely to change in a short period of time, such as a vacancy information of a charging facility, the predetermined date and time may be a date and time several tens of minutes or one hour before the current time.

If it is determined that the update date and time is on or after the predetermined date and time, the controller of the information processing apparatus according to the present disclosure transmit a first command to the terminal mounted in the vehicle to output first voice data that is a voice data according to the notification information posted on the web page. In one example, the first voice data may include a predetermined voice data in addition to a voice data generated by synthesizing a text of the notification information posted on the web page using existing technology (e.g., Large Language Models (LLM) and Text Speech (TTS)).

If it is determined that the update date and time is earlier than the date predetermined and time, the controller of the information processing apparatus according to the present disclosure transmit a second command to the terminal to output a second voice data that is a voice data according to the notification information posted on the web page and that is shorter than the first voice data. In one example, the second voice data may include only a voice data generated by voice synthesizing the notification information posted on the web page using existing technology, and may not include the above-mentioned predetermined voice data.

Here, the above-mentioned predetermined voice data may be, for example, a voice data that prompts the user to operate a GUI (Graphical User Interface) component that is displayed on a screen when the terminal of the vehicle outputs (plays back) the first voice data. In this case, the GUI component may be, for example, an icon (such as a banner) including a link information of the web page on which the notification information is posted. When such predetermined voice data is included in the first voice data, the first command may include, in addition to a command to output the first voice data, a command to output (display on screen) the above-mentioned GUI component. The predetermined voice data may be an information accompanying the notification information (e.g., an information regarding traffic congestion due to the road construction or an information regarding a number of vehicles waiting to be charged at the charging facility) converted into voice data.

The timing at which the first voice data or the second voice data in the present disclosure is output to the terminal of the vehicle may be changed as appropriate depending on the type of the notification information. In one example, when the notification information is the road construction information, the first voice data or the second voice data may be output at the timing when a scheduled travel route is set on the terminal of the vehicle. As another example, when the notification information is the vacancy information of the charging facility, the first voice data or the second voice data may be output at a timing when a predetermined condition is satisfied. The predetermined conditions may include that the distance between the current location of the vehicle and the charging facility is not longer than a predetermined distance, and that the remaining battery charge of the vehicle is not larger than a threshold.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to notify the user of information with newer update date and time and older update date and time using different voices. This allows the user to distinguish between information with newer update date and time and information with older update date and time. Furthermore, information with older update date and time is notified by voice data with shorter sentences than information with newer update date and time. This can also reduce the inconvenience felt by the user. Furthermore, by notifying user of the notification information by voice, it is possible to prevent the user from staring at the display screen of the in-vehicle apparatus while driving. This improves the convenience for the user when providing information to the user of the vehicle.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. Unless otherwise specified, the hardware configuration, module configuration, functional configuration, and the like described in the following embodiment are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present disclosure to only those.

In this embodiment, an example will be described in which the information processing apparatus according to the present disclosure is applied to a system for notifying users of vehicles of road construction information and vacancy information of charging facilities.

1 FIG. 1 FIG. 1 FIG. 1 100 200 100 100 1 100 200 1 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the system according to present embodiment. In the illustrated example of, the systemincludes a terminaland a server. In the illustrated example of, only one terminalis illustrated, but multiple terminalsmay be included in the system. The terminaland the serverare connected to each other via a communication network N. The communication network Nmay, for example, include a WAN (Wide Area Network), which is a global public communication network such as the Internet, and/or a wireless communication network such as Wi-Fi (registered trademark).

100 10 100 100 10 100 10 The terminalis configured as a computer having a processor (such as a CPU or GPU), a main memory (such as a RAM and ROM), and an auxiliary memory (such as an EPROM, a hard disk drive, and a removable media), and is installed in the vehicle. The terminalin the present embodiment has a function of a car navigation system. Such the terminalmay be configured by combining a car navigation system and a DCM (Data Communication Module) installed in the vehicle. The terminalmay be a terminal in which an application program for car navigation is installed and which may be a portable terminal that the user can carry into the car (for example, a smartphone or a tablet terminal, etc.). Furthermore, the vehiclein the present embodiment is a BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) or a PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle), and is equipped with a battery that is charged using an external power source.

1 FIG. 100 101 102 103 104 105 As illustrated in, the terminalin the present embodiment is configured to include controller, storage unit, an input/output device, location acquisition unit, and communication I/F.

101 102 101 101 100 The controllerexecutes dedicated programs stored in the storage unitto realize various functions, which will be described later. As an example, the controllerincludes a hardware processor such as a CPU or a GPU. The controllermay further include a RAM, a ROM, a cache memory, and the like. In addition, some or all of the functions of the terminalmay be realized by a hardware circuit such as an ASIC or an FPGA.

102 102 102 The storage unitincludes the auxiliary memory and stores various types of information. The storage unitmay be a storage area constructed in the auxiliary memory. The information stored in the storage unitincludes, in addition to the OS, an application program for car navigation (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as a “navigation app”), map data used by the navigation application, and the like.

103 103 103 103 The input/output devicereceives input operations by the user of the vehicle and presents information to the user. The input/output deviceincludes input devices such as a touch panel or push buttons that can input characters and other symbols and a microphone that can input voice. Furthermore, the input/output deviceincludes output devices such as a display or a speaker. In one example, the input/output devicemay include a touch panel display, a microphone, and a speaker.

104 100 10 104 10 104 10 The location acquisition unitdetects the current location of the terminal(the current location of the vehicle). In one example, the location acquisition unitmay be configured to include a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver that detects the geographic coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) of the current location of the vehicle. In another example, the location acquisition unitmay be configured to include a wireless communication circuit that detects the geographic coordinates or address of the current location o the vehicleusing a Wi-Fi (registered trademark) location information service.

105 100 1 105 105 200 1 The communication I/Fincludes a communication interface for connecting the terminalto the communication network N. In one example, the communication I/Fmay include a communication interface for mobile communications (e.g., 3G, LTE, 5G, 6G, etc.). The communication I/Fof the present embodiment communicates with the serverthrough a communication network N.

100 10 101 200 105 105 200 101 In the terminalconfigured as described above, when a scheduled travel route for the vehicleis set through execution of a navigation app, the controllertransmits a route information including the set scheduled travel route to the servervia communication I/F. In one example, the route information in the present embodiment may be an information in which the identifiers of one or more road links (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “link IDs”) included in the scheduled travel route are arranged in order from the departure point toward the destination. When the communication I/Freceives a first command signal or a second command signal transmitted from the serverin response to the route information, the controllerexecutes processing according to the first command signal or the second command signal. The first command signal and the second command signal will be described in detail later.

100 10 101 10 200 105 Furthermore, in the terminalconfigured as described above, while the vehicleis in operation (the ignition switch or power switch is in ON state), the controllertransmits a vehicle information including the current location and remaining battery charge of the vehicleto the server viacommunication I/Fat a predetermined period.

1 101 104 101 10 100 200 100 105 101 200 The current location of the vehicleincluded in the vehicle information may be the current location detected by the controllervia the location acquisition unit. The remaining battery charge included in the vehicle information may be a state of charge (SOC) calculated using a known method such an as OCV method or a current integration method. The calculation of the soc may be performed by the controlleror by an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) mounted on the vehicle. The SOC calculated by the ECU may be transmitted from the ECU to the terminalvia an in-vehicle network such as a CAN (Controller Area Network). When the current location and the remaining battery charge included in the vehicle information satisfy a predetermined condition described later, a first command signal or a second command signal transmitted from the serverto the terminalin response to the vehicle information. When such the first command signal or the second command signal is received by the communication I/F, the controllerexecutes processing according to the first command signal or the second command signal. In this case, the first command signal and the second command signal are commands having different command contents from the first command signal and the second command signal transmitted from the serverin response to the route information, and will be described in detail later.

200 200 10 200 200 Next, the configuration of the serverwill be described. The serverof the present embodiment is one or more computers operated by a service provider that notifies the user of the vehicleof the road construction information and the vacancy information of the charging facility. The serverof the present embodiment corresponds to “information an processing apparatus” according to the present disclosure. The serveris configured as a computer having a processor (such as a CPU or a GPU), main memory (such as a RAM and a ROM), and auxiliary memory (such as an EPROM, a hard disk drive, and a removable medium).

1 FIG. 200 201 202 203 As illustrated in, the serverin the present embodiment includes a controller, a storage unit, a communication I/F, and the like.

201 202 203 200 101 102 105 100 220 221 202 200 202 200 203 200 1 The controller, the storage unit, and the communication I/Fof the serverare similar to the controller, the storage unit, and the communication I/Fof the terminal, respectively. However, in addition to programs such as an OS, databases such as a road DBand a charging facility DBare constructed in the storage unitof the server. These databases are relational databases constructed in the storage unitby the processor of the serverexecuting a DBMS (Database Management System) program. In addition, the communication I/Fof the servermay be connected to the network Nvia a LAN or a Wi-Fi (registered trademark).

2 FIG. 2 FIG. 2 FIG. 220 220 220 10 220 220 is a diagram illustrating an example of data stored in the road DB. The road DBin the present embodiment has a plurality of records for each road link, as illustrated in. The road links used in the road DBmay be the same as those used when setting the scheduled travel route in the car navigation system of the vehicle. Each record in the road DBhas a link ID field, a connection destination field, and the like. The structure of the records held in the road DBis not limited to the example illustrated in, and fields can be modified, added, or omitted as depending appropriate on the implementation and etc.

220 100 200 220 220 In the link ID field of the road DB, identifiers of each of a plurality of road links are registered. The identifier registered in the link ID field may be the same as the link ID used in the route information transmitted from the terminalto the server. The connection destination field of the road DBstores information about the connection destination of a web page on which the construction information for each road link is posted. The information registered in the connection destination field of the road DBmay be, for example, a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) of the web page on which the construction information for each road link is posted.

221 221 221 221 221 3 FIG. 3 FIG. 3 FIG. Next, the charging facility DBwill be described.is a diagram illustrating an example of data stored in the charging facility DB. As illustrated in, the charging facility DBin the present embodiment has a plurality of records for each charging facility. A charging facility is a facility (charging spot) where an external power source is installed for charging batteries of BEVs, PHEVs, and the like. Each record in the charging facility DBhas fields such as a facility ID field, a location field, and connection a destination field. The configuration of the records held in the charging facility DBis not limited to the example illustrated in, and fields can be changed, added, or omitted as appropriate depending on the embodiment.

221 221 221 221 10 In the facility ID field of the charging facility DB, identifiers (facility IDs) of each of a plurality of charging facilities are registered. In the location field of the charging facility DB, the geographical coordinates (for example, latitude and longitude) of the location of each facility are registered. In the connection destination field of the charging facility DB, an information regarding a connection destination of a web page on which a vacancy information of each charging facility is posted is registered. The information registered in the connection destination field of the charging facility DBmay be, for example, a URI of the web page on which vacancy information of each charging facility is posted. The vacancy information of the charging facility is an information that indicates the vacancy state of the charging facility. The vacancy status of the charging facility may refer to whether or not a charging space (a parking space for connecting vehicleto an external power source) is vacancy, or whether or not the external power source installed at the charging facility is in use.

200 201 203 100 200 201 203 100 In the serverconfigured as described above, the controllerexecutes a notification process regarding the road construction on the scheduled travel route by triggering the communication I/Freceiving the route information transmitted from the terminal. Furthermore, in the serverin the present embodiment, the controllerexecutes a notification process regarding the vacancy state of the charging facility by triggering the communication I/Freceiving the vehicle information transmitted from the terminal. The notification process regarding the road construction on the scheduled travel route and the notification process regarding the vacancy state of the charging facility will be described in detail later.

(Processing flow)

4 FIG. 4 FIG. 200 200 100 Here, the flow of the notification processing regarding the road construction on the scheduled travel route will be described with reference to.is a flowchart illustrating n example of a first processing routine executed by the server, by triggering the serverreceiving the route information transmitted from the terminal.

4 FIG. 201 41 200 100 203 101 101 201 102 111 102 111 In the first processing routine of, the controllerofthe serverreceives the route information transmitted from the terminalvia communication I/F(step S). After completing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes the processes of steps Sto S. The processes of steps Sto Sis executed for each of one or more road links included in the route information.

102 201 220 202 201 201 201 102 201 103 In step S, the controlleraccesses the road DBin the storage unitusing as an argument the link ID of a target road link among the identifiers (link IDs) of one or more road links included in the route information. The controlleridentifies a record corresponding to the link ID of the target road link. The controllerextracts the URI registered in the connection destination field of the identified record. The controlleraccesses the URI through HTTP communication to obtain a HTTP response from a Web server (a Web server that provides a Web page on which the construction information for the target road link is posted). After completing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes a process of step S.

103 201 102 102 201 102 102 111 102 201 104 In step S, the controlleranalyzes the construction information posted on the web page accessed in step Susing an existing language model such as LLM (Large Language Models), thereby determining whether construction is being carried out on the target road link. In a case where it is determined that construction is not being carried out on the target road link (negative determination in step S), the controllerexecutes processing from step Sonwards on other road links included in the route information (road links that have not yet been the target of execution of steps S-S). In a case where it is determined that construction is being carried out on the target road link (positive determination in step S), the controllerexecutes the process of step S.

104 201 102 104 201 105 In step S, the controlleridentifies the most recent update date and time of the web page on which the construction information for the target road link is posted, according to the information registered in the Last-Modified field included in the header of the HTTP response obtained in step S. After completing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes a process of step S.

105 201 104 104 105 201 106 108 In step S, the controllerdetermines whether the latest update date and time identified in step Sis on or after the first date and time. The first date and time may be, in one example, a date and time several hours prior to the present time. In another example, the first date and time may be a date and time one day prior to the present time. Such a first date and time is an example of a “predetermined date and time” according to the present disclosure. In a case where it is determined that the latest update date and time identified in step Sis on or after the first date and time (positive determination in step S), the controllerexecutes the processes of steps Sto S.

106 201 102 100 100 106 201 107 4 FIG. 4 FIG. In step S, the controllergenerates a first voice data based on the construction information posted on the web page accessed in step S. The first voice data in the processing routine ofincludes a voice data obtained by converting a summary of the construction information into voice, and a voice data prompting an operation of a banner. The process of converting the summary of the construction information into voice may be performed by a method of executing a voice synthesis process using an existing summarization function and a TTS (Text To Speech) function. The banner in the processing routine ofis GUI component that is displayed on the screen of the terminalwhen the first voice data is output by the terminal. The GUI component is a GUI component that includes a link information of the Web page on which the construction information is posted. After completing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes a process of step S.

107 201 106 107 201 108 In step S, the controllergenerates a first command signal. The first command signal is a signal including a command to output the first voice data generated in step Sas voice and a command to display the above-mentioned banner on the screen. After completing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes a process of step S.

108 201 107 100 203 201 108 201 102 102 111 102 111 201 4 FIG. In step S, the controllertransmit the first command signal generated in step Sto the terminalvia the communication I/F. When the controllerhas completed executing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes the processes from step Sonwards for other road links included in the route information (road links that have not yet been target of execution of steps S-S). When the processes of steps S-Shave been executed for each of all road links included in the route information, the controllerends the execution of the first processing routine of.

100 200 101 103 103 101 103 Here, in the terminalthat receives the first command signal transmitted from the server, the controller, in accordance with the first command signal, causes the input/output deviceto output the first voice data as voice and also causes the input/output deviceto display a banner on the screen. Then, when the user operates (e.g., taps) the banner displayed on the screen, the controllerdisplays on the input/output devicethe web page associated with the banner (the web page containing the construction information that was the target of the first voice data).

105 104 105 201 109 111 Furthermore, in step S, if it is determined that the latest update date and time identified in Sis earlier than the first date and time (a negative determination in step S), the controllerexecutes the processes of steps Sto S.

109 201 102 109 201 110 4 FIG. In step S, the controllergenerates a second voice data based on the construction information posted on the web page accessed in step S. The second voice data in the processing routine ofincludes only voice data obtained by converting the summary of the construction information into voice. The process of converting the summary of the construction information into voice may be performed by a method of executing a voice synthesis process using an existing summarization function and TTS function, similar to the case of generating the first voice data. After completing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes a process of step S.

110 201 109 110 201 111 In step S, the controllergenerates a second command signal. The second command signal includes only a command to output the second voice data generated in step Sas voice. After completing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes a process of step S.

111 201 110 100 203 201 111 201 102 102 111 102 111 201 4 FIG. In step S, the controllertransmit the second command signal generated in step Sto the terminalvia the communication I/F. When the controllerhas completed executing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes the processes from step Sonwards for the other road links included in the route information (road links that have not yet been target of the execution of steps S-S). When the processes of steps S-Shave been executed for each of all road links included in the route information, the controllerends the execution of the first processing routine of.

100 200 101 103 Here, in the terminalthat received the second command signal transmitted from the server, the controllercauses the input/output deviceto output the second voice data as voice in accordance with the second command signal.

5 FIG. 5 FIG. 200 Next, the flow of the notification process regarding the vacancy state of the charging facility will be described with reference to.is a flowchart illustrating an example of a second processing routine that is executed by the server, by triggering the server receiving the vehicle information is received.

5 FIG. 201 200 100 203 201 201 201 202 In the second processing routine of, the controllerof the serverreceives the vehicle information transmitted from the terminalthrough communication I/F(step S). After completing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes a process of step S.

202 201 10 201 10 201 221 202 10 202 201 202 201 203 5 FIG. In step S, the controllerdetermines whether there is a charging facility within a predetermined distance (for example, several kilometers) from the current location of the vehicle. In detail, the controlleridentifies an area within a predetermined distance from the current location of the vehicleincluded in the vehicle information. The controlleraccesses the charging facility DBin the storage unitand determines whether there is a charging facility whose location registered in the location field is included in the above area. At this time, among the charging facilities whose locations are included in the above-mentioned area, charging facilities located in the opposite direction to travelling direction of the vehiclemay be excluded. When there is no charging facility whose location is included in the above area (a negative determination in step S), the controllerends the execution of the second processing routine in. On the other hand, when there is a charging facility whose location is included in the above area (positive determination in step S), the controllerexecutes the process of step S.

203 201 203 201 203 201 10 10 201 204 5 FIG. In step S, the controllerdetermines whether the remaining battery charge (SOC) included in the vehicle information is not larger than a threshold (for example, about 50%). In a case where the remaining battery charge is larger than the threshold (negative determination in step S), the controllerends the execution of the second processing routine in. On the other hand, in a case where the remaining battery charge is not larger than the (positive determination in step S), the threshold controllerdetermines that a predetermined condition is satisfied. That is, the predetermined condition in present embodiment includes that a charging facility is present within a predetermined distance from the current location of the vehicle, and that the remaining battery charge of the vehicleis not larger the threshold. In a case where it is determined that the predetermined condition is met, the controllerexecutes the process of step S.

204 201 221 202 10 201 204 201 205 In step S, the controllerextracts the URI registered in the connection destination field of the charging facilityDB for the charging facility (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as the “target charging facility”) that was determined in step Sto be within a predetermined distance from the current location of the vehicle. The controlleraccesses the URI through HTTP communication to obtain an HTTP response from a web server (a web server that provides a web page on which a vacancy information of the target charging facility is posted). After completing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes a process of step S.

205 201 204 205 201 206 In step S, the controlleridentifies the latest update date and time of the web page on which the vacancy information of the target charging facility is posted, based on the information registered in the Last-Modified included in the HTTP response obtained in step S. After completing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes a process of step S.

206 201 205 205 206 201 207 209 In step S, the controllerdetermines whether the latest update date and time identified in step Sis on or after the second date and time. The second date and time may be, for example, a date and time several tens of minutes or several hours before the current time. In another example, the second date and time may be one hour prior to the current time. Such the second date and time is another example of a “predetermined date and time” according to the present disclosure. In a case where it is determined that the latest update date and time identified in step Sis on or after the second date and time (positive determination in step S), the controllerexecutes the process of steps Sto S.

207 201 204 100 100 207 201 208 5 FIG. 5 FIG. In step S, the controllergenerates a first voice data based on the vacancy information posted on the web page accessed in step S. The first voice data in the processing routine ofincludes a voice data obtained by converting a summary of the vacancy information into voice and voice data prompting an operation of a banner. The process of converting the summary of the vacancy information into voice may be performed by a method of executing a voice synthesis process using an existing summarization function and a TTS (Text To Speech) function. Moreover, the banner in the processing routine ofis GUI component that is displayed on the screen of the terminalwhen the first voice data is output by the terminal. The GUI component includes a link information for the web page on which the vacancy information is posted. After completing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes a process of step S.

208 201 207 208 201 209 In step S, the controllergenerates a first command signal. The first command signal is a signal including a command to output the first voice data generated in step Sas voice and a command to display the above-mentioned banner on the screen. After completing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes a process of step S.

209 201 208 100 203 209 201 5 FIG. In step S, the controllertransmit the first command signal generated in step Sto the terminalvia the communication I/F. After completing the process of step S, the controllerends the execution of the second processing routine of.

100 200 101 103 101 103 Here, in the terminalthat receives the second command signal transmitted from the server, the controllercauses, in accordance with the second command signal, the input/output deviceto output the first voice data as voice and also to display a banner on the screen. Then, when the user operates the banner displayed on the screen, the controllerdisplays the web page associated with the banner (the web page on which the vacancy information being target of the first voice data is posted) on the input/output device.

206 205 205 201 210 212 Furthermore, in a case where it is determined in step Sthat the latest update date and time identified in Sis earlier than the second date and time (negative determination in step S), the controllerexecutes the processes of steps Sto S.

210 201 204 210 201 211 5 FIG. In step S, the controllergenerates a second voice data based on the vacancy information posted on the web page accessed in step S. The second voice data in the processing routine ofincludes only voice data obtained by converting the summary of the vacancy information into voice. The process of converting the summary of the vacancy information into voice may be performed by a method of executing a voice synthesis process using an existing summarization function and TTS function, similar to the case of generating the first voice data. After completing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes a process of step S.

211 201 210 211 201 212 In step S, the controllergenerates a second command signal. The second command signal includes only a command to output the second voice data generated in step Sas voice. After completing the process of step S, the controllerexecutes a process of step S.

212 201 211 100 203 212 201 5 FIG. In step S, the controllertransmit the second command signal generated in step Sto the terminalvia the communication I/F. After completing the process of step S, the controllerends the execution of the second processing routine of.

100 200 101 103 Here, in the terminalthat received the second command signal transmitted from the server, the controllercauses the input/output deviceto output the second voice data as voice in accordance with the second command signal.

10 10 100 In the embodiment described above, when notifying the user of the road construction information and the vacancy information of the charging facility, the user of the vehiclecan be notified using different voices depending on whether the update date and time is new or old. This allows the user of the vehicleto distinguish whether the update dates and times of the notified road construction information and the vacancy information are new or old. In addition, when the update date and time is old, the notification is given by voice data with a shorter sentence than when the update date and time is new, so that the user can be prevented from feeling annoyed. Furthermore, by notifying the user of the road construction information and the vacancy information by voice, it is possible to prevent the user from staring at the display screen of the terminalwhile driving.

10 Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to improve the convenience for the user when providing information to the user of the vehicle.

200 100 The above-described embodiment is merely an example, and the present disclosure can be modified and implemented as appropriate without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, among the functions of the server, the function of generating the first voice data and the second voice data may be realized by the terminal.

The technology disclosed herein can be implemented by supplying a computer program (information processing program) or programs configured to implement the functions described in the above description of the embodiments to a computer to cause one or more processors of the computer to read out and execute the program or programs. Such the computer program or programs may be supplied to the computer by a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium that can be connected to a system bus of the computer or through a network.